Who must file Form 1099-Q
File Form 1099-Q if you are an officer or employee, or the designee of an officer or employee, having control of a program established by a state or eligible educational institution (a qualified tuition program, or 529 plan), and you made a distribution from it; or if you are the trustee of a Coverdell ESA and made a distribution. A trustee-to-trustee transfer between programs is reportable (box 4a), as is a rollover from a QTP to a Roth IRA for the beneficiary (box 4b). A change of designated beneficiary to a family member is not a distribution and is not reported.
The recipient is the designated beneficiary when the distribution is paid to the beneficiary or the school, and the account owner when it is paid to the owner; box 6 flags a recipient who is not the designated beneficiary.
Threshold: All amounts, every distribution from a qualified tuition program or Coverdell ESA, including transfers and rollovers; no minimum.
What is reported, box by box
| Box | What it reports | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gross distribution | Cash and the FMV of property; for a Coverdell ESA excess contribution returned with earnings, the full amount. |
| 2 | Earnings | The earnings portion; a loss is shown in parentheses. |
| 3 | Basis | Box 1 minus box 2. |
| 4a | Trustee-to-trustee transfer | Checkbox. |
| 4b | QTP to Roth IRA rollover | Checkbox, new for 2026. |
| 5 | Type of program | Private QTP, state QTP, or Coverdell ESA. |
| 6 | Designated beneficiary checkbox | Check if the recipient is not the designated beneficiary. |
| 7 | Distribution code | Optional codes for the type of distribution. |
Box titles follow the current revision of the form. The IRS reads the payer and recipient name, TIN, address, account number and the money boxes; the state boxes are for the state copy only.
Payments that are not reported on Form 1099-Q
- A change in the designated beneficiary to a member of the former beneficiary's family.
- Earnings that stay in the account (reported on Form 5498-ESA for Coverdell contributions, not on 1099-Q).
Due dates and extensions
| Copy | Due | For 2026 returns |
|---|---|---|
| To the IRS, paper | February 28 | Monday, March 1, 2027 (February 28 is a Sunday) |
| To the IRS, electronic | March 31 | Wednesday, March 31, 2027 |
| To the recipient | January 31 | Monday, February 1, 2027 (January 31 is a Sunday) |
An automatic 30-day extension is available on Form 8809, filed by the due date on paper or through IRIS; a second 30 days requires a hardship showing. Recipient statements can be extended 30 days on Form 15397, online or by fax only. 10 or more information returns of any type in aggregate must be e-filed (T.D. 9972); IRIS is the only IRS intake system from filing season 2027, FIRE having been retired. A payer who e-files the originals must e-file the corrections.
For 2026 forms filed in 2027: January 31 falls on a Sunday, so that deadline moves to Monday, February 1, 2027; February 28 also falls on a Sunday, so the paper deadline moves to Monday, March 1, 2027. March 31 (electronic) and March 15 are weekdays. February 28 does not become February 29 in a leap year. The compliance calendar has every date with the weekend shifts applied.
Withholding and TIN matching
Distributions from qualified tuition programs and Coverdell ESAs are excluded from backup withholding and the form is not in the IRS TIN Matching program. The penalty for failing to file is $50 per return under IRC 6693, with no annual maximum, rather than the tiered IRC 6721 amounts; the reasonable-cause defense still applies. The name/TIN pair is whichever party is the recipient for that distribution, beneficiary or owner, which changes from year to year for the same account.
Name and TIN errors on this form
Every information return is matched by the IRS on the first four characters of the payee's name (the name control) against the TIN. For this form the penalty is IRC 6693: $50 per return for each failure to file or furnish, with no annual maximum, unless the failure was due to reasonable cause. A mismatch still produces a CP2100 line the following autumn. The errors that recur on Form 1099-Q:
- Beneficiary versus owner. Payments to the school or the student report under the student's SSN; a refund to the parent reports under the parent's. Box 6 tells the IRS which one.
- Beneficiaries whose names changed. A 529 opened for a newborn is drawn on eighteen years later; the SSA record may have changed in between.
- Trustee-to-trustee transfers still carry the beneficiary's TIN even though no one received cash.
The name control calculator shows what the IRS will derive from a name line, and the CP2100 guide covers what to do when the notice arrives.
Recipient statements and substitutes
The recipient statement for Form 1099-Q need not be a copy of the official form: a substitute may be combined with other account statements or reports, provided every required item is numbered and titled as on the official form, the tax year, form number and form name appear together, the recipient instructions are included, and, for the forms Pub 1099 lists, a telephone number with direct access to someone who can answer questions is shown. Publication 1179 (Rev. Proc. 2026-18) has the specifications; logos, slogans and advertising are not permitted on the statement itself. Statements may be furnished electronically only to a recipient who has affirmatively consented in a way that shows they can access the format, after the disclosures in Pub 1099 part M, and must stay posted through October 15. Copy B may show a truncated TIN (xxx-xx-1234); the IRS copy never may.
Corrections and state copies
A wrong amount, code or checkbox is a Type 1 correction: one corrected return with the CORRECTED box checked. A wrong or missing payee TIN, a wrong payee name, or the wrong form type is a Type 2 correction: a zeroed-out copy of the original plus a new original, in that order. Publication 1099 also says you are not required to file a correction for a missing or incorrect TIN if you meet the reasonable-cause standard, only to use the right TIN on the next return, although the IRS encourages the correction. Details and the paper error charts are on the 1099 corrections page.
Form 1099-Q is not in the Combined Federal/State Filing program, so any state that requires it must receive it directly. Requirements by state are on the state pages.
Questions people ask about Form 1099-Q
Is a 529 rollover to a Roth IRA reported?
Yes. Box 4b, added for 2026, marks a trustee-to-trustee rollover from a QTP to a Roth IRA of the beneficiary; the receiving IRA trustee reports it on Form 5498.
Do we report a transfer between two 529 plans?
Yes, with box 4a checked.
Which penalty applies to a late 1099-Q?
$50 per return under IRC 6693, unlimited, rather than the IRC 6721 tiers.
Other federal forms
1042-S · 1097-BTC · 1098 · 1098-C · 1098-E · 1098-F · 1098-Q · 1098-T · 1098-VLI · 1099-A · 1099-B · 1099-C · 1099-CAP · 1099-DIV · 1099-G · 1099-INT · 1099-K · 1099-LS · 1099-LTC · 1099-MISC · 1099-NEC · 1099-OID · 1099-PATR · 1099-QA · 1099-R · 1099-S · 1099-SA · 1099-SB · 3921 · 3922 · 5498 · 5498-ESA · 5498-SA · W-2G · 1099-DA · Comparison table
Sources: IRS Publication 1099 (2026), General Instructions for Certain Information Returns, which replaced the separate General Instructions starting with tax year 2026; Instructions for Form 1099-Q (Rev. April 2025); Pub 1099 (2026) part O (section 6693); IRC 529, 530, 6693. Threshold amounts are indexed for inflation from calendar year 2027; check IRS.gov/InflationAdjustment for the current year.